Value in Question

My tattered wallet is bursting with cards: credit, ATM, insurance, and business cards, including my own. Then there are receipts, the driver's license, and, of course, cash, the billfold's original raison d'être. There are now a "vast" number of options to enclose these essential materials of daily life:

(WSJ graphic)

Bright colors and unexpected materials abound. “We’re seeing textured grains, exotic skins and even a great needlepoint collection,” said Glen Hoff, director of men’s design at Brooks Brothers.

The trick is staying true to personal taste and lifestyle demands. Risk-takers might embrace patterned leather, while guys who play it safer might see a forest green billfold as enough of a digression from basic brown. A man who works in a so-called creative field can flash a flashier wallet without raising eyebrows than one who toils on Wall Street. (Unless that Wall Streeter is comfortably defiant.)

Like pocket watches and fountain pens, this explosion in billfold design could be signaling the last hurrah of a consumer good, as it transitions from the mass market to a high-end niche. Technology is miniaturizing or eliminating everything carried in the wallet.

Unless one is a collector or is trying to impress someone (a motivation not to be discounted), there are better places to put one's money. © 2014 Stephen Yuen